Live Art Performance: Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses March 24, 2009

Monteverdi’s The Return of Ulysses
An Opera Directed by William Kentridge
Tuesday–Saturday, March 24–28 / 8 p.m.
Opening Night Benefit Performance: March 25 / Reception: 4:30-7:30 p.m. / Performance: 8 p.m.
Project Artaud Theater, 450 Florida Street, San Francisco

A superb tale is always worth the retelling. A story from Homer’s Odyssey was brought to vivid life by Claudio Monteverdi in Venice in 1640, focusing the action on Ulysses’s return to Ithaca after his odyssey of more than 20 years. Kentridge recreates the story for our time, placing the dying Ulysses in a hospital ward in mid-20th–century Johannesburg. Using animated charcoal drawings and life-size wooden puppets, Kentridge adds a fascinating visual world to Homer’s epic and Monteverdi’s music, bringing us into direct contact with the power of myth.

Performed in Italian with English supertitles; 90 minutes.
In conjunction with William Kentridge: Five Themes.

Official Website: http://www.sfmoma.org/events/1332